The Handbook of World Englishes, 2nd Edition

19Written Language, Standard Language, Global Language

M. A. K. HALLIDAY

1 Introduction

English, along with a small number of other languages in the modern period, has expanded away from local through national to international domains, changing significantly along the way. But the changes are not simply those that take place in the normal course of the history of a language; other changes come about as a language takes on new cultural, economic, and political responsibilities. Critical moments occur when a language comes to be written as well as spoken, and then when it comes to function as a standard language for some sort of nation‐state. In that sociohistorical perspective English is now acquiring a new identity as the global language of the late capitalist world. Some of the consequences of this development are beginning to show; but we have yet tried to find out what the long‐term effects are that arise when a language finds itself globalized.

I myself came from the Inner Circle of Englishes, the OVEs (Old Variety of Englishes) as they are called in Southeast Asia; so I would like to start by reminding you that within this circle there are and always have been many different Englishes around (Kachru 1990). I’m not talking about the relatively recent worldwide varieties – British, North American, South African, Oceanic – but about the old dialects within Britain itself, Northumbrian, Mercian, Wessex, and Kentish at one period in the language’s history. As a child I could ...